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I drove the 2018 Toyota C-HR XLE with my family for a week and it was pretty fun to drive. With a teething baby, getting out of the house lately is a must and we love to drive around. I like how smooth of a ride this vehicle is for all of us. It’s not quite the size of a regular car but also not the size of a large SUV. It lies somewhere in the middle (think hatchback), which makes it a decent vehicle if you have a smaller family or are single.

So, something I have never experienced yet is the band system that the C-HR has: Continuously Variable Transmission.

“A CVT is an automatic transmission that instead of using fixed gears uses two pulleys connected by a steel band, with the diameter of one of the pulleys continually adjusting as needed to provide an optimal gear “ratio” to transfer power to the car’s tires.”

I’ll admit, when I heard this car had CVT, I was a little nervous to drive it. After driving the city streets to run errands with my daughter and after driving through windy mountain roads, I’ve found it to be not too bad at all.

SPECIAL FEATURES

-Toyota Safety Sense Pre-Collision System which can alert you if a frontal collision may occur. It may also apply brakes for you.

-Lane Departure Alert which alerts you if you have most likely veered into another lane.

-Automatic High Beams: a camera on the windshield watches for vehicles in front of you and adjusts your high or low beams according to what other driver’s cars are doing.

-Dynamic Radar Cruise Control: it uses a radar and a camera to watch the car in front of you and see what speed they are going and what distance they are from you. It adjusts your speed so you are at a safe distance of that car.

MORE FEATURES

Radio – The radio is today’s expected standard with touchscreen, AM/FM player, auxillary auto jack and USB 2.0 port. You can also connect your phone to it by Bluetooth if you so desire. I love that you can control the radio from the steering wheel. Something that I’d definitely love included in the C-HR is GPS. I use it quite often and it’s nice to have it on the screen in my car rather than on my phone.

Electric Parking Bake – This is pretty cool. You can pull up the button for the electric parking brake and it will turn on. When you push the button down, it turns off. In Utah, we use the parking brake a good amount so I love the ease of using this.

Rear View Mirror with Backup Camera – I’ve never had a backup camera in a car so this is super convenient for someone like me who doesn’t love reversing cars. The rear and back windows are pretty small so there is not much space to see where you are backing up. You definitely can reverse without aid from the backup camera but I find it helps.

Gas Mileage – Between my husband and I driving the C-HR for a whole week, not one full take of gas was used, which is super nice (average MPG is 29). I love the luxury of having just that little bit of a larger vehicle without the sting of a high gas bill.

Trunk Space – I think the trunk space in the car is actually pretty decent. When I went to the grocery store I was able to fit a giant box of chips, all of my groceries and a 24 pack of sodas in there. I’ve been able to fit my stroller pretty easily in the trunk as well. I definitely think this isn’t a vehicle that you could fit a ton of luggage and other items if you were using only the trunk space. But for every day items, and a few bags, it’s perfect.

Lastly, as far as space goes, I’d say the Toyota C-HR is pretty spacious. I’m able to fit my one-year-old’s large, rear facing car seat pretty easily in the back seat. When I am sitting in the C-HR I have plenty of space both in the back and front seats and I am 5′ 8″.

We’ve loved taking the windy roads of the mountains, the hustling and bustling city roads and more this week in the Toyota C-HR. A special thanks to Toyota for allowing us to test it out! Definitely check it out HERE or at your local Toyota dealership.

#LETSGOPLACES

IF YOU WERE ABLE TO DRIVE THE TOYOTA C-HR FOR A WEEK, WHERE WOULD YOU GO?

Ciao!

*I was able to test out the Toyota C-HR free of charge for an honest review. All opinions are my own.